Pitt rallies from 18-point deficit to win in OT

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review - Pitt's J.J. Moore celebrates the Panthers come-back win over Oakland after Pitt was down by as many as 18 against the Golden Grizzlies Saturday at Petersen Events Center Saturday.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review - Pitt's J.J. Moore scores during the Panthers' comeback win over Oakland on Saturday. Pitt was down by as many as 18 points.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review - Pitt's James Robinson is fouled by Oakland's Duke Mondy after making a steal with with seconds left in regulation. Pitt was down by as many as 18 against the Golden Grizzlies and came back to win in overtime Saturday.

Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review - Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon looks on as Tray Woodall hits a three against Oakland as the Panthers came back from a 18-point deficit to win in overtime Saturday at Petersen Events.

ACC Videos

Daily Photo Galleries

Barreling toward a double-digit loss against Oakland on Saturday, Pitt instead pulled out one of the greatest comeback wins in school history with a 72-62 overtime victory at Petersen Events Center on Saturday.

Pitt trailed by 14 points at halftime and by 18 with 11:34 to play in regulation. Freshman point guard James Robinson tied the game on a pair of free throws with 10 seconds on the clock and Pitt dominated overtime.

“We didn't shoot well at all and we didn't defend well at all, but the one thing this team did do was fight,” senior guard Tray Woodall said. “It showed a lot of character.”

Robinson hit a jump shot to open overtime, J.J. Moore made a pair of free throws and after a jump shot by Dante Taylor gave Pitt a 64-60 lead with 3:13 left, Oakland would make only one more shot the rest of the way. Pitt was 5 of 5 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line in overtime and outscored Oakland, 52-28, in the second half and overtime combined.

“This is a very hard moment for us because when you come to Pitt, you're going against a guy who's one of the top coaches in the country and a program that's one of the best country in a building they don't lose in,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said.

“We should have won the game. For 37 minutes we were by far the best team on the floor. The last three minutes of the game I don't know what happened. I'll take all the blame. We collapsed. I feel bad for my players because this is the type of win they take with them the rest of their life and we weren't able to finish it.”

Previously, the biggest halftime deficit Pitt had ever overcome was 13 points in the last college basketball game played at Mellon Arena — a double-overtime win against Duquesne in the City Game in 2009. They trailed Oakland 34-20 at the half.

The 48-30 deficit was also the second-largest second-half hole the Panthers have ever overcome to win. The largest second-half deficit they've ever overcome was 22 points against Purdue in 1960.

The Panthers are now off to a 4-0 start for the 14th time in the past 15 seasons.

Moore led the Panthers with 16 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Robinson with 14 and Taylor with 10.

Corey Petros led Oakland with 19 points and Travis Bader had 16.

Pitt's second-half push began with back-to-back 3-pointers less than a minute apart midway through the second half to close the gap to 12 points and force Kampe to call a timeout midway through the half. Petros hit a jumper to get back to 14 points, but a 3-pointer by Moore and a dunk by Steven Adams cut Oakland's lead to 50-41 with 7:44 left.

Oakland still held a 58-51 lead with 1:07 left but the Grizzlies turned the ball over four times as the Panthers kept chipping away.

Pitt was a different team in the first half against Oakland than the Panthers were the first three games of the season.

Their largest lead was just three points in the opening minutes of the game. Oakland tied it for the second time with 13:39 to play, then took the lead on a fastbreak layup by Drew Valentine. Oakland shot 59.1 percent in the first half (13 of 22) and was led by Petros and Duke Mondy with nine points apiece.

Robinson led Pitt in the first half with seven points. Woodall, Lamar Patterson and Adams were all scoreless in the first half as Oakland outscored the Panthers, 20-8, in the paint and 12-3 off turnovers. Pitt was just 8 of 26 from the field.

Karen Price is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-320-7980 or kprice@tribweb.com.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.